Deception
by willynilly23
Summary: My bridge fic between the end of 4X06 and the revelations from the promo for 4X07 Spoilers for 4X06, if you have not seen it yet, you might not want to read this.


My post-ep for 4X06 and my assumed pre-ep for 4X07.

Annie stormed out to the new sleek black car she had acquired as part of her new NOC. She missed the red car, she could kick it and not feel guilty and that is what she wanted to do, kick it. Was he still lying to her? About something this big? Did he have a living wife out there?

Annie got behind the wheel of the car and tried to stop shaking. She breathed deeply and hoped Henry wasn't watching the affect he had on her, but he probably was, the man knew everything.

Annie pulled away and tried to let her logical mind overtake her emotional one. The first thought she had was of Parker of all people. How was Auggie planning to marry Parker if he knew he had a perfectly alive wife that he claimed to have loved floating around out there?

Her next thought was of Auggie himself, the look on his face every time he kissed her, the contentment on his face in bed, the peace he brought to her life. This was not a man with a wife in another country that he was communicating with. Annie had no doubt that Auggie was a world class spy, but he was not lying about this. Now she had to figure out if Henry was.

Auggie was standing in the middle of the kitchen, arms folded across his chest, his cell phone on the counter in front of him.

"What happened?" he pleaded, obviously worried sick.

"Henry got to Rossabi," Annie said quietly.

"But you're here," he unfolded his arms and reached for her, but she stayed back a step.

"Henry convinced Rossabi to alter the DNA," she felt sick thinking about it.

"Why?"

"To win my trust, to insure my loyalty, to 'show me what he is capable of'," she quoted.

"Huh," was all he said, visible relief washed over him and Annie knew how upset he was that he couldn't save her this time.

"Auggie, there's more," she started slowly and moved towards the fridge.

She removed the Patron and 2 glasses and poured them each some.

"Drink this," she offered him a glass and knocked her own back.

"It's 3:00 in the afternoon," Auggie mentioned but drank the tequila anyway.

"Henry told me Helen was still alive," she didn't sugar coat it, she wanted to see his immediate reaction.

She was nearly relieved when Auggie's knees seemed to buckle under him and he reached for what he hoped was the counter to prop himself up.

"No," he said his voice hard.

"And that you know she is alive," Annie hated assaulting him with this, but she had to know.

"No," he repeated harsher this time.

"Auggie?" she approached him now.

"No Annie, she can't be," now she was worried he might be sick, his face had taken on a greenish tint and his eyes were blinking and scanning as if he could see in his memory.

She poured him a little more tequila and started rubbing his back.

"OK, OK. Let's sit down," she led him to the couch and he sat with a thud, the air kind of knocked out of him.

Annie wanted nothing more in that moment than to curl up in his arms, pull the computer over and book them both passage to some unknown island and leave Arthur and Joan to fight Henry on their own. She and Auggie had both been through enough the past few years, why were they going through all of this now?

"Do you believe him?" Auggie asked quietly.

"Do I believe Helen is alive? I have no idea, I didn't even know she existed until a couple weeks ago," Annie tried not to sound defensive.

"Do you believe that Henry can take better care of you than I can?" his real fear emerged.

"No Auggie, and I told him so, he threw this at me as I was walking away from him. It's his wedge, you have said it all along," Annie was now doubting Henry's intel.

"He's been right about everything else," Auggie swallowed.

"You just said you know she's dead," Annie pointed out.

"OK, true he was wrong about that, but what if, oh god, what if he is right about Helen. It wouldn't be the first time an operative has gone underground. Annie where is the file Henry gave you?"

"In the safe, I'll get it," Annie got up and moved to the false panel in the wall.

As she entered the combination that Auggie had given her with no hesitation, she started to calm down. Even if Helen was alive, she and Auggie were on the same side, since day 1.

"On that first morning, in bed, you told me about a woman in the photos with Arthur and Teo. It didn't hit me at the time, but the only people who those two men would have in common are me and Helen. Tell me about the photos."

"The woman is our age, dark hair, pretty. In the photo with Arthur she is wearing a suit standing back a bit, intense. The photo with Teo is different," Annie saw it suddenly, the woman in the photo was very close to Teo.

"How?"

"She is dressed casually, she is standing closer to him, she's looking at him…."

"Like you look at me?" he asked with a frown.

"Yeah," she choked a little on the word, why hadn't she noticed that before.

"We need to talk to Arthur."

The End


End file.
